Keeping Technology Off

We recently enacted a new rule in our house:

No Technology until after 7pm

As the dark hours of winter overtook us, the hours of interaction with only technology increased.  There isn't a lot to do in a tiny house when it's dark outside.  However, I know from experience, the tendency to buzz our brains out with Facebook, Wild Kratts or even Kindle books, increases drastically in the winter months.

Tiny House or not, 

rules need to be made around technology

 if we are ever going to interact as a family.

Personally, I'll sit for HOURS reading books, which are almost all on my iPad or computer now.  Don't get me wrong, reading is good, or can be good, but I have a tendency to forget everything around me - including my kids - when I'm reading a good book.  This is not good.

My husband very rarely reads books, but he watches a lot of DIY building videos and documentaries on youtube.  Again, these are not bad, but when I realized I was glued to my iPad books, he was glued to his phone/tablet and the kids were glued to their devises...for hours...almost every night....

I called a family meeting.

The verdict: no technology until after 7pm, with some exceptions: recipes from my iPad, building instructions and school projects are a few of them.

Instead of zoning out on our various devices, we've played multiple rounds of UNO and chess, practiced music, baked brownies and taken a fun family quiz.  We haven't played Mancala, Jenga, Spot-it or Cribbage in a while but those are also on the agenda for our "technology free" time in the evenings.

There's also my sons ever present indoor tiny house soccer, baseball, hockey, boxing, swinging and whatever-other-motor-skills-he-thinks-up activities.  No, I'm not kidding.  He has discovered a wiffle ball makes a great soccer ball and baseball for indoor tiny house sports.

Of course, there was the time-out when he kicked that whiffle ball HARD and it hit my foot...but the very next time he very politely asked me, "Could you please move your feet mom."

Which I did.

I really don't mind the movement as long as objects (and people!) are taken into consideration!

As for my daughter, she has been blessed with just happening to be in the grade the YMCA offered free memberships to this year.  This has provided her hours of swimming, which just happens to be great at getting out an overabundance of winter energy!

The days are getting longer (and warmer!) and we're looking forward to lots of out of doors time again but for now we are taking advantage of the time in our close quarters to enjoy being with each other instead of just enjoying our technology!

Saying No to the Cute Cardigan

Living in a Tiny House means saying "no" even when something is cute AND fits AND is on sale!

This cute cardigan was even super comfy.

However, when I buy something, especially a cardigan, it has to match almost all of the outfits in my wardrobe.  Especially a cardigan because I just don't have room for more than one, maybe two, cardigans at a time.  I have been looking for a cardigan but it will have to match several dresses AND my shirts AND my skirts, oh AND my new patterned leggings! 

This means it will have to be special.

My skirts have stripes, my patterned leggings would clash with the colors, only about one-third of my shirts could be worn with this cardigan without blinding me and as for dresses it might work in a pinch.

The next cardigan I buy will have to be the perfect color and perfect style.  I'm also hoping for the perfect price.

I can dream can't I?!

Heating our Tiny House

Previously we were heating our Tiny House with a tower space heater similar to this one.

We brought it from our 1700 sq foot house when we moved.  It was getting old and wasn't running well but still kept our house at a good 70 degrees or higher.

This Tiny House is WARM.

Even in the freezing temperatures the last few weeks, we have been nice and toasty in our tiny house. Never, in all the houses we have lived in, has our house stayed this warm.

Our first apartment we spent a year in and never turned on the heat.  It was cold in the winter but we weren't in the house much and being our first year of marriage we chose to save on the heating bill.  It helped to have apartments under and on either side of us using their heat.

Our second place was a tri-plex.  It stayed pretty warm in the winter but we still wore our warm clothes in the house. 

In the next place, a 1000 sq. ft duplex, I think is where I started wearing slippers.  I never really wore slippers before but my feet always seemed to be cold at the duplex.  I had babies at the time and they were always cuddled up in onesies and warm sleepers.  I might have also started wearing slippers because I was home all day instead of at work.

The last place before our tiny house was our 1700 sq. foot rambler.  That place never seemed to stay warm without a very large gas bill in the winter.  Even then, we wore sweaters, wool socks and slippers.  We tried getting a wood stove.  We got in trouble for using our wood stove because it wasn't certified.  We got a new wood stove.  We got in trouble using it when there was (unknown to my husband) a burn ban in effect ($1000 fine).  Then our furnace broke while a burn ban was in effect.  No furnace and no access to our wood stove when the temperatures dropped below freezing.  We were really bundled up then.  The poor space heater was almost run into the ground but did not keep that sprawling house warm! 

This was the winter before we moved.  Not being allowed to use our wood stove in freezing temperatures might have influenced us to move out of that county.

I think we got a reputation of having a chilly house; my sister-in-law one time told me she always had to remember to bring a sweater to my house.  I wasn't surprised when my brother-in-law asked me about how warm my new house is.  HE seemed surprised, however, when I told him my new house is so warm I wear shorts and a t-shirt in house in the winter.

Last week my husband replaced our tower space heater with this little beast:

It attaches straight to the plug-in on the wall, providing us with much needed floor space.  It has sweet little red LED lights around the inside to make it look hot, outlets on the sides so you don't lose outlet space, the normal Hi and Low heat settings with built-in thermostat and it keeps our house nice and toasty!

As much as we like this new Tiny Heater, we are hoping to be self-sustaining some day AND we have a terrible moisture problem in our tiny house.  We tried a dehumidifier (it drank up gallons each day!) but we couldn't run the heater and the dehumidifier at the same time (we're still running on an extension cord) and we think the dehumidifier broke because we had it running in freezing temperatures.

We were left with the dilemma of buying a new dehumidifier and running it alternately with the heater (which we want to ditch someday anyway), buying the propane heater we had originally planned to purchase for our tiny house OR buying the tiny wood stove my husband found online (there were other options but these were the main ones we considered!).

We are expecting this new arrival in the beginning of February:

Made by the Tiny Wood Stove company specifically for spaces smaller than 500 sq. ft the Dwarf 4kw   will be installed on our metal front door, saving space and (hopefully!) warming and drying our Tiny House.

My husband has taken the door off to reinforce it with additional hinges and to make it easier to install the wood stove when it comes.  Oh, AND he's going to finish painting the door because I never did like that blue color!  The space where our front door should be is boarded up and insulated with canvas.  Even with a boarded up door with canvas we're still warm!  

Our Tiny House is by-far the warmest house we have ever lived in.

  

Tiny Eating ... or Not

Here's how it works:

• Start with 2 tiny pieces of bread
• Add a dab of almond butter to one tiny piece of bread

• Place one tiny piece of bread onto the dab of almond butter to complete the sandwich

• Add some apple slices and squares of cheese

• Finish off the entree' with a tiny chocolate chip cookie

• Voile'! Tiny Eating! 

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...or not!

Tiny Living is going great but I think I like eating a little to much to eat tiny too.

Bring on the Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies!!

LOVE baking with this little lady in my tiny kitchen and mmmm, mmmm, these cookies: melt in your mouth warm, gooey goodness. Add a glass of milk and it doesn't get much better, except...they're gluten-free which means guilt-free for me!

Also, can't forget DINNER: Taco Lentils and Cheddar Cheese Quesadilla with Corn Tortilla's and sides of chunky salsa and sour cream.

Ooooh...yeaaaah...no Tiny Eating around here!

Today I Hibernated

Most days in my tiny house I want to go outside.  I want to go to the store.  I want to go to work.

I did not want to go anywhere today.

I DID take my son to the Dr. and then to the store for vitamins (I never can seem to have a ALL day at home day) but I just couldn't wait to get back home.

I went outside my house maybe 3 times after we came back from the store and doctor this morning.

I'm pretty sure the dreary grey skies, the constant rain, the sticky, icky mud and the wet, wet, wet everywhere helped convince me to stay indoors.  Looking at the forecast only further convinces me to begin petitioning for a human hibernation period in the winter.

Except for the kids, please no hibernating for the kids!  They can layer up...or not...sure, wear your t-shirt in the snow honey I never really thought you needed the cute snow hat and puffy jacket anyway...and play tag in the freezing rain.

I sent my son out with the 2-way radio so I wouldn't have to step a foot outside to communicate with him.  I think he thought the 2-way radios were awesome until today: "Do Not Run With The Saw.  I repeat, Do Not Run With The Saw."  pause. "I repeat..."

"ROGER THAT"

I sure hope so because if this momma has to come outside I guarantee you are not going to be happy.

Tiny House or not there are just days where hibernating within the walls of my house is a therapeutic necessity.

Exercising

The only time I have trouble finding room to exercise is when we are in the middle of a project.  Even this time when we had to move things around (the shoe shelf in the left of the picture and the boards on the floor) I was able to do my stretching using the floor space.

We bought some yoga mats as a quick fix for the seating area padding and they worked great for my core exercises while the main floor space was obstructed.

My view while laying on my back exercising isn't so bad either :)

Of course there is always the out of doors gym we are blessed to be able to use! 

I was very thankful for the sunshine the other day when I was off of work.  It was COLD but the cold encouraged me to run!  I do think living in a tiny house has encouraged me to get outside more.  I like being out of doors but with a big house and lots of work to go along with it...and lots of moving around in the house...I had a lot of reasons why I had to stay inside.  Now the work is done quickly, the kids and I need to move and the sunshine draws us out to enjoy it's rays!

8 People!

We hosted the adult bible study class in our tiny house last night.  

That was seven adults and one kid!

We had a successful study on Jesus's teaching "I desire mercy, not sacrifice" and no one got jabbed by another person's elbow, not accidentally anyway!

We love hosting and were really happy we had the opportunity to host last night.  We are hoping for many more opportunities to host as the Tiny House becomes more comfortable and complete.

Next time we plan to have tea and cocoa ready for our guests :)

Where do I store Christmas Decorations?

I started putting my Christmas ornaments in the storage seat under where the tree had been.  

I was actually happily surprised that my Christmas decoration purge from our move meant we don't have half as many decorations as I thought we had!

I also realized that living in a tiny house means one decorated Christmas tree and my Advent calendar pockets make the whole house feel festive!  

I played some ornament box and decoration Tetris and, surprisingly, was able to get all my decorations into this space!!  My husband was very happy to take out another empty rubbermaid container!

The lid even shut when I was done!!

Then I looked around the house and saw a rubbermaid container tucked under my kitchen counter.... 

...and...

I remembered:

everything in THAT container was supposed to be stored in this space after I moved the Christmas tree.

This may take some more downsizing...or just more creative use of my space...honestly, I am kind of groaning right now.  A person does want to be done recreating space and downsizing at some point!  

I'm guessing I'm not the only one with a after-Christmas-downsizing/declutter project so....

I have a request: if you read this and have a great idea you have used or plan on using this month to declutter/downsize could you please share it here or on the FB post??

I'd love to hear everyone's ideas!